PARIS (Reuters) - Unseeded Gaston Gaudio crushed fellow Argentine David Nalbandian 6-3, 7-6, 6-0 at the French Open on Friday to reach his first grand slam final.

The 25-year-old took advantage of a below-par performance from Nalbandian to win in two hours, 26 minutes and set up a final against another Argentine, third seed Guillermo Coria, or ninth seed Tim Henman of Britain.

"I never thought I was going to be in the final of the French Open," said Gaudio, who broke down in tears after clinching victory on a damp day at Roland Garros.

"I was thinking about all the effort I made when I was young and all the dreams about winning here so that is why I was a little emotional at the end."

Nalbandian said he had been hampered by a stomach injury, which particularly affected his serve.

"I had a problem with my intercostal muscles in the last set against Guga (Kuerten, in the quarter-final)," he said.

"It was a little better today but it was a still a bit of problem. But I had my chances in the second set and I didn't take them. Then he played very well in the third set."

Gaudio, playing in his first grand slam semi-final, began well by taking the first set before Nalbandian, runner-up at Wimbledon in 2002, hit back in the second, thanks in part to a succession of trademark drop shots. But having used it so effectively to reach 5-2, Nalbandian appeared suddenly overcome by nerves as he forgot the drop shot altogether and began to make mistakes. Twice he served for the set, twice he was broken, and the set headed to a tiebreak.

SWEET BACKHAND

Gaudio, with his backhand working to perfection, was the more aggressive throughout and raced to a 6-2 lead, helped by an umpiring mistake at 5-2 when he was allowed to serve from the wrong side.

Nalbandian showed brief signs of life when he saved three set points but a huge backhand down the line by Gaudio set up a comfortable smash that gave Gaudio the tiebreak 7-5. After that Nalbandian simply folded.

Gaudio broke in the first game of the third set and when he repeated the feat two games later the writing was on the wall for a despondent Nalbandian.

Gaudio is the first Argentine to reach the men's final at Roland Garros since Guillermo Vilas in 1982.

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